Close Quarters
by FiercesomestDefenestrator
Summary: Super-prankster Yang shoves Ruby and Weiss in a locker. Bumblebee if you squint, White Rose if you squint harder. Complete! Now in multi-chapter format.
1. Trapped

**A/N: So after the longish tale that was our last story, Fiercesomest and I decided to have a bit of fun with another random oneshot. It can be considered sorta-kinda loosely set after Road to Recovery, but really it works just fine as its own thing. We hope you guys have as much fun reading this as we did writing it. ;3**

**Hugs,**  
**Defenestrator**

**EDIT:**

**New and improved multi-chapter format! (Because I'm bored and snowed in and trying to think of what to write.)**

**Also, btw, we're two people, in case you didn't catch that- I write for Ruby and Weiss, Defenestrator for Blake and Yang. Good times. Read on, fearless reader.**

**\- Fiercesomest**

* * *

It was a beautiful, blue-skied day at Beacon Academy; rich, white-gold sunlight poured in every door, ever window, and every miniscule chink in the locker that Ruby and her partner were currently trapped inside of.

"This is all _your fault," _Weiss growled, squirming to get turned around in the small space. There wasn't a lot of light to see by, but what managed to sneak through the horizontal vents mostly fell on the back of the fencer's neck. Strands of her white hair were already sticking to her skin. Her elbow jammed hard into Ruby's stomach.

"Ow," the young team leader was all awkward limbs as she tried to fight back in the dark, "How is this _my_ fault? Yang-"

"_Your _sister, _your _fault," the heiress pushed with her hands and knees against the wall of the locker, shoving Ruby back against the door with a metallic _clang_.

Her bunched up cloak softened the blow. She pushed back, "That's _stupid." _

"Get _off_," Weiss snarled, redoubling her efforts.

The scythe-wielder responded in kind, "_I can't_."

They wrestled like that for a second, Weiss straining against the back wall, Ruby against the door, teeth gritted, each trying to- what? Crush the other? When they were both already crammed into a locker?

The air was hot and close. It smelled a little like Weiss's vanilla perfume and Ruby's roses but mostly just like sweat and teenage-boy-funk and the bottle of Jaune's off-brand sword polish that had come open when they'd gotten 'accidentally' shoved into his locker. Ruby's boots slipped in the stuff and she tangled with Weiss's legs, causing the heiress to shriek and drive back with her shoulder as hard as she could. The two smacked heads—Ruby's forehead to the back of Weiss's skull.

"Ouch, ouch, _ouch_," Ruby tried to get a hand to the spot over her eye, the fight momentarily on hold.

Weiss channeled the sharp pain into a furious order, "Yang, I can hear you laughing. Get this locker open this _instant_ or so help me I'll report you for misuse of school equipment."

Standing right beside the locker in question, Yang was doubled over in hysterics, but she managed to straighten herself out just enough to respond without snorting through each word. "Sorry princess, but I don't know wonderboy's locker code, so unless you want me to _force_ the thing open," she cracked her knuckles for emphasis, "and probably break it, which would get me reported for _property damage_, there isn't much I can do for you~" Her tone was singsong, carefree, mischievous, everything she knew would set the heiress off. "Don't you worry though, Blake's gone to find him. She'll be back soon enough."

Or so she assumed. In reality, Yang was just as much in the dark as the two stuck in the locker.

Ever the willing accomplice, she had merely acted on a nonverbal cue sent by the grinning Faunus the second Weiss and Ruby had moved in front of Jaune's carelessly left-open locker, left behind to listen to the aftermath as Blake slipped away with a smile and a wink.

Though Yang was well known by her team (and by the entire school in general) as a master prankster, her seemingly-reserved partner's sporadic pranking sprees remained a well-kept secret, known only to Blake and the brawler herself. Yang considered herself incredibly sneaky, but Blake was downright _devious_, and Yang was always willing to help a fellow mastermind's pranks unfold. The brief message on her scroll - _Be right back, securing the prison. -_ had her curious to say the least.

Taking a moment to stretch out her arms and legs, still blissfully sore from the group sparring session with team JNPR they'd just come in from, Yang leaned heavily against the locker door, blocking whatever light had been filtering in before. "You two want me to keep you company~? Or should I give you some time alone~"

"Weiss stop it, that's my foot, that's my ribs, ouch, _stop_," Ruby managed to grab her enraged partner's elbow and get her other arm around her middle. She hung on for all she was worth.

"Yang, I'm going to kill you in your _sleep_ for this," The heiress thrashed like a wildcat. "And _you_," she jerked one arm free from Ruby's grip, but she was still tangled in half of the girl's cape, "Get your _hands off of me_ and just—_get off_."

Outside the unfortunate pair's cramped confinement, a couple of familiar faces rounded the corner from the hall into the locker room.

"Hey, Yang, 'sup?" none other than Sun, fearless Faunus extraordinaire, lit up with a grin as he sauntered in, his long monkey's tail curled at his side. He straightened his open shirt's collar a little and looked around, peering up at the windows and under the benches, "Is Blake back here? I thought I heard some voices and some banging around and stuff. Hey, that was a pretty sweet sparring match you guys just had. I mean, it was okay, you know," he shrugged to his blue-haired cohort, "right Neptune?"

"Totally." Neptune flashed a charming smile, raking a hand through his spiked blue hair. "I especially liked that one combo move - what was it, Freezerburn? So cold, so _hot, _smokin'."

"It's steam, actually," Yang smirked, then pointed down the hall with both fingers, "And Blake went thataway."

Neptune rolled his eyes at Sun, who was currently craning his neck in the direction Yang had pointed. "So, why aren't you with her?"

"Because I've decided to keep an eye on these two~!" she banged once on the locker she was leaning on, "Gotta make sure they observe Rule #1."

Neptune blanched. "Rule number one?"

"Nothing past first base."

"Ohhhh," his goggles caught a ray of sunlight and flashed as he nodded, not even bothering to question why there were people crammed inside a locker in the first place. "Good rule."

Ruby released Weiss and pressed back against the door, yelling at her sister, _"_There are only friendship bases!"

Sun's sandy-blond head swiveled back, ears perked at the talking locker behind Yang. "Is that your little sister in there? Hey, l'il sis!" he pushed past the brawler and cupped his hands around his eyes to try and peer through the vent, "What's a friendship base? Is that like kissing but without the tongue? That's cool."

The scythe-wielder's voice rose several octaves, "_No-Sun-there's-no-kissing."_

Weiss, who in her earlier struggle had finally managed to get turned around to face the door, abandoned her momentary be-quiet-to-minimize-witnesses plan in favor of an alternate strategy. Dropping all traces of her previous fury from her tone, she wrestled overtop of her flustered partner to get as close to the vent as possible and called, "Neptune, help us get out!"

Sun reeled back in surprise, "Whoa, it's the ice queen!"

A gloved hand appeared in Sun's face, shoving him sideways into Yang as Neptune quickly took his place. "Fancy meeting you here, snow angel," he spoke smoothly, eyes squinting at the tiny slits in scuffed locker door, trying to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous heiress trapped within. "What's a beautiful huntress like you doing stuck in a beat-up locker like this?"

"Ah, you know, I tripped and knocked 'em in there by accident - happens all the time!" Yang cut in with a carefree smile as she casually placed a hand on Sun's back to help him catch his balance.

Lacing his fingers together and stretching his palms and arms out before him, Neptune turned his attention back to the locker and arched an eyebrow, smirking. "Well then, let's see about getting you out of there." He set to rapidly pressing numbers on the keypad.

Yang crossed her arms, mildly amused. "Uh, whaaaaat are you doing?"

"It's simple, brute-force the code," the blue-haired intellectual replied, one hand tapping a finger to his temple as the other hand continued on in an ascending sequence of numbers.

The brawler smirked in response, making no move to stop him. "You know, if you keep putting in the wrong numbers it's going to-"

_CH-CHK_

"... permanently lock you out."

Neptune paused, the sound of heavy deadbolts clicking into place still ringing in his ears. He slowly backed away from the keypad. "...Is it too late to say I meant to do that?"

Weiss made a frustrated snarling sound, her head leaned hard on the now extra-secure intruder-protected locker door.

"... at least he didn't launch us across the school?" Ruby offered with a nervous laugh. Weiss was pressed up against her, her chin on Ruby's shoulder.

The white-haired girl seemed to realize her position and flung herself backwards the few inches available, slipping in Jaune's sword polish. Ruby squeaked as Weiss fell back- well, sort of fell, but mostly their knees just knocked together. Ever the optimist, Ruby wrangled the heavy, smothering fabric of her cape and continued to suggest ways they could get out, getting more and more uncertain as the words tumbled from her mouth.

"Okay, so maybe Jaune can unlock it?" Actually, Ruby recalled, Jaune had trouble getting a package of fruit snacks opened last week, so that was probably out, "Or Blake! Blake can probably do something, or get Professor Goodwitch, or... something."

The heiress groaned from where she slumped against the wall, not bothering to right herself in the stifling space, "All my years of training and I'm going to die of suffocation in a school locker with _you_."

A heavy _thump_ shook the locker and Ruby had to brace her hands on either side to keep from falling onto Weiss.

Sun rocked the locker from his perch on top of it, light from the overhead windows catching in his hair, "Maybe we can, like, shoot the door off. Or slice it open. Your weapon's basically a high-powered can opener, right, Mr. I'm-a-genius-so-I'll-force-the-code?"

"It's intellectual. And are you seriously asking me to risk slicing or _stabbing_ the two lovely ladies trapped inside this thing?" Neptune reverently placed his hand on the locker, looking shocked. "My weapon is _incredibly_ powerful you know."

Still standing off to the side, Yang leaned on nearest locker, eyes narrowing slyly, "So, what you're saying is, you lack finesse?"

"Ye-... No, of _course _I have finesse. It's... just not a weapon meant for delicate tasks is all," Neptune shrugged off Yang's teasing, crossing his arms and looking past the grinning blonde, dark eyebrows rising at the familiar face headed their way.

Yang blinked, just about to turn and follow his gaze herself when a hand suddenly appeared on her shoulder.

"I'm back."

"hEY," the brawler nearly leaped out of her skin, whirling around to find Blake sporting a small smile. "Didn't hear you there, partner," she half-growled, waiting as Blake nodded to Sun and Neptune before speaking back up, "So, what's the word on wonderboy?"

Expression passive, Blake answered without missing a beat. "Word is, Jaune and Pyrrha have gone into town for the remainder of the day, so..."

"Figures." Yang put her hands on her hips, glancing at Neptune "Well, it wouldn't have mattered much anyway, since mister intelligence here-"

"_Intellectual._"

"-pushed too many numbers. The thing deadbolted itself." She motioned to the locker.

"...Oh, that's too bad." Blake sighed, sounding perfectly disappointed, despite the mirthful gleam in her eyes.

"They'll be gone _all day_?" Ruby's spirits dropped to the soles of her boots. She tried to turn and angle her head so she could see out the horizontal slits in the door, "But Weiss and I have combat practice again later in the afternoon."

"Weren't you listening? Even if the blond idiot was here, he couldn't undo the bolts." Weiss straightened, squaring her shoulders as best she could in the cramped space. "There's got to be another way out. I am _not_ missing class because of this."

"Ooh, ooh, I've got it," Sun hopped down from the top of the locker, motioning with both hands like he was doing a sort of blend of tai-chi and charades, "Blake, you're, like, the most finesse-y around, right? You can use your crazy ribbon sword-gun thing to cut the deadbolts and the lock at the same time, and bam! Door's open!"

Blake returned Sun's charming smile with a light laugh. "I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I'm actually on my way to find a professor. I just wanted to check in on Weiss and Ruby first," her gaze shifted from the dark-eyed blonde to the locker he was gesturing to.

"Oh they're fine," Yang waved a hand dismissively, "sad and angry, but _fine_."

"Good to know. We should probably hurry anyway - hang in there you two," Blake called to the locker as she grabbed Yang's arm and dragged her away.

Neptune's face fell as the girls neared the end of the hall, "Leaving so soon?"

His only answer was a small wave from Yang as she was pulled around the corner.


	2. Weiss: master tactician

The second they left Sun and Neptune's line of sight, Blake shoved her partner into the nearest closet, following close behind. Her amber eyes widened reflexively, easily catching Yang's ridiculous grin hidden in the darkness that fell as the door quietly clicked shut behind them.

"Hey, _all right_," the blinded brawler beamed, arms reaching out and just barely missing their target as Blake slipped past her, "Dare I ask why my lovely partner has dragged me into a dark closet?"

_CLANK_

"_Son_ of a-" Yang hissed, holding her head where a metal grate had just dropped on her.

"Oops," Blake's voice came from above, smirk evident in her tone.

The dim light provided by small sparks coming from Yang's semblance illuminated the area just enough for her to see Blake's feet disappearing into an air vent just above her.

Brimming with curiosity, Yang followed, dragging herself up into the cramped space. "We're not actually going to find a professor at all, are we?"

"Of course not."

The brawler beamed at the mischievous undertone in her partner's reply. "And since when did you start voluntarily climbing into air vents?" A bright flash of amber glanced back at her.

"If I remember correctly, _you _were the one who informed me that mastery of the school's ventilation system was a must for a master prankster."

"…Marry me."

Blake rolled her eyes with a smile and shushed the brawler. "We're here," she whispered.

Keeping as quiet as possible - an incredible feat considering the close quarters - Yang did her best to crush herself up next to her partner. Together they peered through the vent before them, right down at Sun and Neptune, still hanging around Jaune's locker.

* * *

Neptune's arms were crossed as he regarded Sun. "So, if your aim is good enough, maybe _you _should try shooting the lock off? Your pistols are built for precision after all."

"Dude, my pistols are made for blasting Grimms' faces off," Sun tried to get his fingertips into the crack of the locker door so he could try to yank it open, "These lockers are crazy. What, did they make them out of weapon's grade steel even? Geez, talk about overkill. Unless someone's grenade launcher goes off in one, or something." He paused as the thought crossed his mind, "Which, given this school... has probably happened."

"Hey wait, did you mean get a professor to help us or did you have an appointment or…? Yang?" Ruby called from inside the locker, twisted almost sideways and standing tip-toe. "Where'd you go?"

Weiss sputtered, trying to see out around Ruby's head, "Did she _leave? _Did Blake and your sister just _leave us here?!_"

"I mean, I'm sure they'll be right back, right? Right, Sun?" Ruby got a face-full of the fencer's hair, "Weiss- blech!"

"Hey, yeah, no, she's gone," Sun kicked the base of the locker experimentally. "You want me to try to shoot you out? My bullets might just bounce off."

"Um, if they _don't_ you'll be shooting us in the stomach at point-blank range," Ruby pointed out between spitting out strands of Weiss's hair and shuffling the junk at the bottom of the locker with her boots.

In addition to the container of sword polish, there were maybe some clothes and a couple of hard, clunky things. Maybe Jaune had a screwdriver, or something. Picking it up would be difficult, though. Weiss was still trying to see out without touching her partner which was impossible. Ruby wished she could wipe the sweat dripping into her eyes. It was getting _way_ too hot.

"Someone go and find her," Weiss demanded through the vent, "Go find Yang _right now_. We're stuck in here because of her, so she should at least take responsibility for her actions instead of _abandoning_ us here with- and _Blake_\- they went together, didn't they? _Yang_ you- you-" she tried to punch the door but there was no way to reach it.

"That's my _sister_ and quit _hitting me_," Ruby got one arm partway up and started wrestling with the heiress again, shoving with her whole weight to get her to stop.

"Quit _pushing me_." Weiss snarled, pushing back, "I'm _trying _to get enough air to _breathe_."

"Okay guys, just chill," Sun peered in through the vent at the scuffle for a second before he leaned back to his blue-haired companion, "So now would really be a good idea for a plan, or something."

Still hidden up in the vents, Yang nudged Blake, leaning close to whisper in her ear. "Speaking of plans... what are we doing up here?" She waited for an answer as her partner simply smiled down at the spectacle below, amber eyes shining. "...You just wanted to watch the fireworks didn't you~" Blake's smile only widened, forcing the brawler to suppress a laugh. "Do you even _have _a plan?"

"I do," a few strands of raven hair fell into Yang's face as Blake tilted her head to the side, bringing them mere inches apart, "I was researching nice places for a romantic getaway, and found a lovely secluded park on the other side of Vale. If Sun and Neptune clear out, I plan on sending Weiss and Ruby on a small forced vacation, courtesy of one of those six digit launch codes."

Yang's face lit up with a grin. "Yeah Weiss could definitely use a vacation, she studies way too hard." She quirked an eyebrow. "Why were you looking at romantic getaways?"

Blake paused, amber eyes slowly travelling over to meet amethyst.

A sharp metallic knocking drew both gazes back through the vents.

Neptune had his ear to the locker, tapping along its edge, listening for changes in pitch. "A_ha_. There's one..." He drew his rifle and placed its muzzle directly on the locker door, angling it almost completely sideways. "Don't even worry, you guys. I've got this. I'm going to try shooting out one of the dead bolts - cover your ears!"

A deafening blast rang through the locker room, white-blue energy ricocheting from Weiss and Ruby's prison at a wide angle and blasting a chunk out of the opposite wall.

The locker stood untouched.

"Aw, what? A point blank shot would have worked!" Neptune frowned, bending down to examine where he'd shot. "I'm thinking you're right Sun, these are totally weapons grade... steel..." Neptune paled visibly. The locker and its door had melted together. "Uh... huh."

"Told you," Sun ran his hand over his slightly singed hair.

Ruby didn't realize she'd smashed Weiss into the back of the locker and was clinging to her sleeves and ducking over her protectively till the girl made a small, whimpering sound; and she didn't realize that her ears were ringing till she pulled back and the whimpering turned out to be Weiss screaming her head off at a certain unfortunate 'intellectual'.

"How could you- did you _actually_ fire your weapon at us?!" The fencer was so angry she could barely see straight, not that there was much to see in the confines of the locker. She forced Ruby back against the door so she could tear into Neptune through the vent, "Of all the suggestions to listen to, you seriously picked the one that could've blown us in half? We might have been- you could have had _pieces_ of us all over the locker room! You could have _vaporized_ us! I can't believe you would even _consider-_"

Ruby surged away from the section of metal Neptune had blasted, yelping "Ouch, still hot, still hot!"

"Yeah, uh, so you guys know anyone with a blowtorch?" Sun perched on one of the benches, tail curled up behind him for balance, "Like a kind that won't roast you alive if you're inside the thing that needs blowtorching? 'Cause the door's kind of melted shut now."

Inside the locker, everything stopped. Ruby was keenly aware both of the smell of singed cotton and of the veritable calm before Weiss's storm. She tried to put some distance between herself and her partner without burning her shoulder.

The heiress took a deep breath, enunciating every word. "Did you say _melted shut_?"

Still staring in awe at his unfortunate handiwork, Neptune finally snapped to attention at the waves of cold fury radiating from within the locker. He pressed his face to the vent, hoping that somehow his winning smile would be visible through the thin slits. "Don't you worry about a thing, snow angel, it's all part of the plan. Now that we have extreme heat, all we need is a little extreme cold, and voila! Stress fractures!"

"Um, cold sounds good," sweat trickled down Ruby's nose while she tried to figure out if Neptune was attempting to make a joke about her partner's frosty disposition.

Meanwhile, the heiress in question had gone quiet and still.

"... you okay, Weiss?" Ruby gave a nervous laugh, cringing a little in anticipation of getting yelled at, but no yelling came. She swallowed, blinking sweat from her eyes. It was hot and they were both cramped and gross and Weiss. Wasn't. Yelling.

That was a bad sign. A really bad sign.

The fencer had two types of quiet: resigned-quiet and thinking-quiet. And this was not resigned-quiet. Far from it. If Ruby could have seen her face better, she was pretty sure she'd be able to see gears turning. Well, if Weiss's brain had gears.

In reality, it was probably more like a computer- quick, sophisticated, cold as ice—and more than capable of recalling people who occasionally made scrap work of weapons-grade steel.

"Ruby," she said at last. "You have Yang's scroll contact information, correct?"

"Yyyyes?" the scythe-wielder twisted her hand down to the scroll in her pocket, but fumbled the device. Clunk. It joined the rest of the junk on the floor of Jaune's locker. "Um. I have it memorized."

"Give it to Neptune," Weiss struggled to lean past Ruby's shoulder, "Neptune, call Yang. Tell her if she doesn't get back here and get us out _right now_, Ruby and I aren't going to follow her 'rules'."

* * *

Heat began to pour from the air vents above as Yang's eyes flashed crimson at the heiress's bold declaration of war, so distracted by sudden bloodlust that she nearly missed Blake's hand slipping into her pocket. Nimble fingers working quickly, Blake took her partner's scroll, opened it up, set it to silent, then handed it back with a knowing smile as a burning hand slid over to grip her arm.

"Blake. I'm going to _kill _her."

"She's bluffing." Amber eyes sparkled with a strange delight.

Yang paused, then relaxed visibly. "...yeah? You think so?" Her scroll began to flash - a call was coming through.

Blake nodded, her expression silently asking for her partner's trust.


	3. Blast off!

Down below, Neptune tapped his foot, waiting quietly for the fiery blonde to answer her scroll. It had been ringing for what felt like eons. "Guys, I don't know if she's going to answer..." Navy blue eyes squinted as it continued to ring. "Maybe she - oh! Hello? Yeah it's Neptune... no they're still stuck in there. Actually, about that, Weiss says if you don't get back here right now she isn't going to follow your rules?... Uh huh... Is... is that so... oh. _Oh? _I uh, well-... Well all right then, see you."

Neptune hung up, looking shell-shocked. "Um," he faced the locker, trying to catch the slivers of ice-blue staring out of the vent, "So, Yang says hang in there, she'll be back soon - she really wasn't very specific about when - and, uh-" he somehow managed to keep a straight face, even as he brought a hand up to nervously pull on his shirt's collar, "and in the mean time, she advised you to go for the neck and ears?"

From the benches, Sun gave a low, appreciative whistle.

"Call her back," Weiss narrowed her ice-blue eyes, "Tell her if she's not here in five minutes, we're hitting second _and_ third base. Better yet, let me talk to her."

The door of the locker had cooled enough to be bearable. Ruby edged so her back was against it. She was suddenly unsure of where to look or what to do with her hands in the small space. "Uh, I don't know if this is really-"

"Ruby," the heiress cut her off, a warning in her voice as she listened for Neptune to make the call.

Ruby immediately knew what Weiss was trying to do. If Yang got mad enough, she'd bust their locker prison open like a tin can. Instant freedom! Ruby shoved a little against the welded-shut door, her whole body aching for fresh air and space to move. This could backfire so hard, though. Given Yang's tendency to be... well... on the protective side, the locker might not be the only thing getting busted. "Weiss, she'll _kill _you."

Neptune silently agreed with the younger girl even as he dialed Yang's number once more.

Having retreated to the closet to take Neptune's original call, the brawler in question had only made it about halfway back through the air vents to Blake when her scroll flashed again. Further down at the end of the vent, she could see Blake watching her intently.

Well, she was probably still far enough away to answer without giving away their position... Yang tapped the small portrait on her screen, "You again, huh?"

Neptune's voice surrounded her in muted stereo, directly in one ear from her scroll, as well as faintly in the other drifting up from the air vent in front of Blake. "Yes, me again. Are you aware of the common adage, don't kill the messenger? Because snow angel's telling me you have five minutes to get here before she goes for second and third base. Which, just so you know, I will be running far _far _away from this area should that occur, so there should be no need to add me to your hit list."

Time stood still for a moment as Yang took a second to process Neptune's rambling. "Weiss. Said. _What,_" she finally snarled, a surge of rage shooting through her shortly thereafter, manifesting in flames that caused her to literally see red. Motion attracted her crimson gaze to Blake, amber eyes calm and reassuring as she shook her head and slowly mouthed the word '_bluffing'. _Honestly, Yang was pretty sure her partner was right - in fact, she doubted Weiss even knew what exactly she was threatening to do with Ruby... but this was her_ baby sister_ on the line. Kissing was certainly one thing but second-no, _third base!?_ Nope. Oh no. She was _not _willing to take that chance.

Leaning casually on the severely beaten locker, Neptune somehow managed to hide the way his nerves frayed further and further with each second the brawler remained silent on the line. He even managed to keep a straight face when Yang's voice suddenly growled directly into his ear, radiating pure murderous intent.

"_Put her on the line._"

Immediately, Neptune all but smashed his scroll up to the slits in the locker door. "She's all yours."

Ruby, having heard the tail end of the 'conversation' on the phone, made as much room as she could as the white-haired girl again climbed partway on top of her to get as near to the vent as possible. She hissed up at her partner, "Weiss-this-is-such-a-bad-idea."

"Shut up," Weiss hissed back, working her hand up to get the strands of her sweat plastered hair off of her face and out of her mouth. She was hot and miserable and Yang was going to get them_ out_. She greeted the blonde over the scroll, "Four minutes now, Yang."

"_Weiss,_" the brawler's snarl crackled with interference, or were those flames? "If you lay one single _finger _on my little sister I will see to it that you _don't_ live to regret it."

"Oh, are you worried about us _touching_? Maybe you should have thought of that before you forced us into a locker the size of a _matchbox_," Weiss countered, shifting to get her mouth a little closer to Neptune's scroll while Ruby sweated it out against the door, practically embracing the heiress.

"No, Yang, it's fine we're touching but it's not that kind of- h-hey!" Ruby stammered as Weiss planted her palm on Ruby's forehead, her thumb almost taking out an eye.

"Guess where my hand is, Xiao Long," The heiress said, sickly sweet through the vent.

"_WEISS._"

Neptune nearly dropped his scroll when Yang's voice blared not only from the device's speaker, but from the end of the hall. The brawler had just rounded the corner - clearly livid even from such a distance - the picture of burning righteous fury. He and Sun dove backwards just in time to avoid the charging human fireball that _smashed _to a stop where he had just been standing, denting the locker where her hands landed.

Growling incoherently, Yang all but headbutted the unfortunate piece of metal keeping her from protecting her little sister, desperately trying to see through both her flames and the locker door's small vent. "What are you _doing- _you wouldn't _dare-_" She caught a glimpse of ice-blue staring defiantly up at her and bared her teeth in response. "The Schnee family is going to be down one heiress if you don't back off _right. Now._"

"Make me," Weiss maintained her cool, calculating exterior even as she buried one fist in Ruby's collar to keep her close, effectively utilizing her as a human shield. The younger girl craned her neck and saw nothing but molten gold and red through the slits in the locker door.

"Yang, Weiss, stop- guys, I think we should maybe just-" Ruby squeaked as the heiress jabbed her fingertips into a ticklish spot on her side.

Yang's blood boiled at the indecent sounds coming from her little sister.

"I will _end you,_"she roared, jamming her fingers into the vents, their burning tips stopping inches from the heiress's face.

Unwilling to strike the locker outright for fear of hitting Ruby, the raging brawler settled for securing what her fingers could catch of the vents in a death grip and _pulling_, licks of flame darting into the locker as she slowly pried the weapons grade steel apart with her bare hands.

Weiss yanked Ruby against the back wall, out of range of Yang's flames.

"Okay-Weiss-now-would-be-a-great-time-to-tell-her-you-weren't-serious," Ruby's words got lost in the screech of tearing metal. The younger girl twisted herself around so she could see what was going on even as she scrambled to stay back, away from the livid inferno that was her big sister.

"Yeah, because that's really going to work," Weiss growled and tried to brace herself to run but that was hard to do with the scythe wielder pressing her into the back of the locker, all but crushing the air from her lungs. As soon as the hole was big enough, she'd shove Ruby through and bolt. That was the plan, anyway, but Ruby had her pretty much pinned.

"Get _off_," Weiss struggled to get an arm between herself and her partner, "you're going to get me killed!"

"Yang no really stop it's fine please don't be mad!" Ruby flailed her arms as much as the narrow space allowed, bracing her heels against what was left of the door and pressing farther into the locker as her sister peeled back more and more steel.

The hole was big enough now for the brawler to fit an entire arm and more than half of her shoulders through. She was almost there, just a little more and she was going to reach right in there and-

"Hey uh, Yang?"

Neptune's voice grated on Yang's already frayed nerves, distracting her from her very important murderous task at hand. She ignored him.

The maybe-not-so-intellectual waited a moment before trying a bit louder, hoping to be heard over the violent destruction unfolding before him, "Yang?"

"I'm a little _busy _right now, Neptune," the brawler replied through gritted teeth, not looking away from her white-haired target, cowering in the back of the locker. The metal in her hands crumpled a few more inches.

"Yeah, but..."

Angry sparks flew in a shower of white-hot light as the brawler rounded on the unwelcome blue-haired interruption, "WHAT."

Neptune casually stepped to the side so that he was standing behind Sun, who seemed to be enjoying the show, "Your scroll..."

Yang spared two seconds to glance down at the item in question - it was flashing with a new message. In a fit of fury at yet more interruptions, she nearly shattered it as she yanked it from her pocket and wrenched it open with a bit too much force. She blinked, confusion momentarily winning out over her rage. It was a message from Blake.

_Treacherous heiresses must be punished by the highest authority. _

The short message was followed by a launch code, complete with a small map showing the landing coordinates.

It was _not _the park.

A wicked grin split the brawler's face, and she punched the code into the locker at once - thankful that she'd avoided damaging the keypad. She paused before hitting the final key in the sequence to smile at her little sister through the hole she had ripped into the locker. "Don't let her escape, Ruby." Her gaze then shifted to Weiss, lips stretching into a devious smirk as her crimson eyes burned with triumph, "_Say hello to the headmaster for me._"

She pressed the final key, stepping back and laughing maniacally as the locker roared to life and blasted through the ceiling.


	4. Just in time for class

A small chime sounded.

Professor Ozpin glanced up from the report of one of his senior teams' missions defending an outlying province. Hm. It had been a while since anyone had sent a locker his way.

It seemed to be headed for the balcony coordinates, just beyond the glass double doors. The headmaster's eyes strayed back to the page as he picked up his mug from beside him at his desk and reclined, "Care to field this one, Glynda?"

Leaning on the side of Ozpin's desk, Glynda turned her head just slightly, eyes flicking away from the day's team evaluation scores she was currently reading through to catch sight of the impossibly battered locker headed their way. She rolled her eyes. Freshman pranks never changed. It was probably filled with smoke bombs or stink bombs or some other petty explosive.

A gentle flick of her riding crop caught the unusually heavy object mid-air with a wave of purple light. Just as she was about to send it flying away to the scrap yard, her aura, wrapped around the locker, picked up the presence of _other _auras. Curious. She laid her scroll on Ozpin's desk, stepping past him and out onto the balcony to investigate.

Golden eyebrows arched at the enormous jagged hole that was probably once a door, revealing two very unhappy, very disheveled, and very familiar students, clinging to each other for dear life inside the ruined locker.

"... Professor Ozpin," she glanced back inside, "Could you come out here for a minute?"

Ozpin finished reading his paragraph and turned his desk chair slightly to see what was the matter.

"Um, can we please get down?" Ruby Rose's terrified squeak of a voice carried well. Weiss Schnee, pale as a sheet, seemed unable to make up her mind whether to push her team leader away or clutch her fluttering red cloak harder.

Amused, Ozpin took his coffee and joined Glynda on the balcony as he regarded the pair of students in the suspended, mangled locker. The wind snatched at his gray hair and emerald kerchief. "Hm, well, these aren't my regular office hours; in this case, however, I believe I can make an exception."

* * *

Half an hour, a few cookies (on Ozpin's part), and a stern talking-to (on Glynda's) later, Ruby and Weiss collapsed in the elevator on their way down from Ozpin's office.

"We should've taken the stairs," Ruby shivered as the walls seemed to close in around her. She slid further down the wall next to her partner, her hand accidentally brushing Weiss's.

Weiss snatched her arm away, flushing. "Don't touch me. Don't talk to me. Don't even _look_ at me. Yang is ready to have me burned at the stake."

"Yeah," Ruby gave a nervous sort of half-laugh as she ignored directive number three, silver eyes flickering to her partner. Weiss had apparently abandoned her aversion to sitting on the floor for the moment. Her collar was crumpled and her jacket was a little scorched. Her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. The scythe-wielder's hair was still damp with sweat, so it stood up in funny directions when she brushed her hand over it. "I can maybe try to talk her down some."

"How humiliating," Weiss groaned, shutting her eyes and massaging her temple at the memory of the recent interview. With the headmaster and Glynda, no less. However, a little mortification was preferable to being murdered by a raging psychopath. "Your sister is an absolute maniac."

"You're the one who decided it was a good idea to make her mad." Ruby pointed out without looking up from examining the singed fibers of her cloak.

As they neared the ground floor, Weiss levered herself back to her feet, dusting off her combat skirt and fixing her side-tail. She squared her shoulders, "Well, it worked. We're out of that _prison_ and have plenty of time to prepare for class next period."

Ruby couldn't really argue with that. At least, she was too relieved about being able to stretch and breathe fresh air to argue. She pulled herself up on the guard rail that lined the compartment as the elevator gave a pleasant 'ping' to indicate they had arrived at their desired floor.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal Blake and Yang, the former looking decidedly calmer than the latter. Heavy gloved hands landed on the heiress's shoulders. "Hello, _Weiss._"

The heiress didn't have time to dodge or really even think before Yang had her hands on her. She took a short breath to compose herself and tried to brush the brawler off, "Okay, truce. You got me, I got you. We're even."

"Hey Yang! And Blake. Er, even sounds really great. We're, uh, we're all for peace on Team RWBY, right guys?" Ruby stood halfway in, halfway out of the elevator, hands partly raised as she glanced anxiously between the two.

"Oh no, Weiss. _No._" Yang spared an apologetic glance at her little sister,"Ruby, I know you like this one but I'm sorry - we're going to have to put her down."

Blake placed a pacifying hand on her partner's shoulder and said nothing, but something wasn't quite right about the way her eyes lit up.

"_Yang_, no no no no no no no," Ruby grabbed one of her sister's arms. "No actually killing teammates!"

"Wait, what?" Weiss looked up from scowling at Blake. Put her down? They meant 'put her down' as in like you would a dog? Equal measures of panic and indignation rose in Weiss's chest as she tried to pull away. "Not funny. _Not funny_, Yang."

"Not _funny?_" Yang's grip on Weiss's shoulders tightened. "What's _not funny_ is _you _getting all handsy with my little sister," she leaned forward, nearly nose-to-nose with the heiress, "Where was your hand, Weiss? _Where was it._"

"Yang," Blake stepped a bit closer, trying to catch the brawler's wild gaze, "Wherever it might have been, the death penalty is highly unusual for a first-time infraction."

"_How do I know if this is the first time._"

Blake considered this for a moment. "...Fair enough."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby gritted her teeth, hauling at Yang's arm so her body made a forty-five degree angle with the floor. Her sister didn't budge.

"_Nothing_! There was no first time for anything!" The heiress jabbed a finger at Ruby even as she twisted to get out of Yang's grasp, "My hand was on her _face_ so she would shut up and let me fake you into getting us out of that stupid locker after you_ both abandoned us_ _there_."

Blake rolled her eyes. She was about to "explain" that they had been "looking for a professor", definitely not hiding up in the air vents, no way, but she was cut short as Yang surged forward past Ruby, pinning Weiss against the back of the elevator.

The brawler's eyes snapped to her little sister. "She was using you? To make me angry?"

"That's what it sounds like," Blake passively supplied from the sidelines when the younger girl picked herself up off the floor and hesitated.

Yang rounded on the heiress trapped in her grip, pressing their foreheads together so she could see the whites of her eyes. "That's. _Worse._" With a mighty roar, she grabbed Weiss and hefted her into an ironclad over-the-shoulder carry, storming out of the elevator and towards an unknown destination.

Weiss shrieked in counterpoint to Yang's roar, "What are you- _let me go- get your hands off of me, you- you-"_ with a flicker of her hand, a pale blue glyph sprung up beneath the brawler's feet in the wide atrium of Beacon's main building. A few bystanders glanced to see what was going on while Weiss held the glyph hard in an attempt to keep the brawler in place while she fought to get off from over her shoulder.

Ruby shook off her hesitation and caught up to them, her cape swirling at her knees. She tried to talk over the struggle that was taking place, "Yang, wait, I wasn't thrilled with the plan but Weiss was just trying to help, and you did lock us in and just leave us there, and it was super hot and stuffy, so maybe we could just all apologize and go to class and everything will be fine?"

Yang paused to regard her sister, softening just a fraction at the earnest silver staring up at her.

After a tense moment during which Blake caught up to the group as well, the brawler stopped trying to struggle against the troublesome glyph holding her feet in place.

Brushing her hair out of her face with one hand and tightening her grip on the squirming heiress with the other, she straightened up, frowning down at Ruby as the gears turned in her head. Finally, she sighed. "Ok sis. I'll apologize if _she _will."

"Fine," Weiss gasped, red in the face from being partly upside-down. She braced her elbows on the back of Yang's shoulder, still holding her glyph, "But first let go of me."

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, Yang lowered the heiress back to her feet, but kept a firm grip on her shoulders. "So help me if you try to run..."

Blake came to stand beside her partner, interrupting whatever threat might have been coming. "She's not going to run, Yang."

Still squinting, the brawler finally released Weiss completely.

"...But if she did, you'd still be stuck on this blue glyph."

"I don't _run_," Weiss stepped back, straightening her bolero and tossing her hair so it fell back over her shoulder. Once out of Yang's immediate reach, she dropped her glyph, "and I resent the implication that I would fail to uphold my end of a verbal agreement."

"Says the girl who just threw rule number one out the window the second I turn my back," Yang shot back.

"Pretended to throw out the window," Blake corrected with a small smile.

"Still."

"It only counts as a verbal agreement if it both people _actually agree_," Weiss rolled her eyes. "I don't recall accepting your rules."

"Ahem. Apologies, guys?" Ruby prompted, her arms crossed and her gaze as disapproving and serious as she could make it.

Yang crossed her arms as well, leveling an expectant look at Weiss.

"Fine. I'll go first. You don't have to look at me like that," Weiss drew herself up and faced her team leader. She took a breath and suddenly couldn't quite meet her partner's eyes. "Ruby, I apologize for using threats of being indecent with you as part of a strategy without your direct approval. I should have listened when you said it was a terrible idea."

She ignored the way heat was creeping up her neck and turned to glare daggers at Yang, "Was that suitable?"

Blake and Yang stared at Weiss with twin expressions of shock. This was quite possibly the first time they had ever heard the heiress manage to straight-up apologize for anything.

The brawler was first to break into a smile. "Yeah, actually. More than suitable," she threw an arm around the heiress, grinning. "You know, you're all right, Weiss. You really got me good! Sorry I tried to kill you."

"Okay, hands off," Weiss fumed, pushing Yang's arm away and fixing her hair while Ruby grinned off to the side. The heiress shot a look at Blake, certain that she'd been involved in this to some degree. To Yang, she said, "Does your apology include shoving us in the lockers in the first place?"

"Yeah, of course," came the easy reply as the brawler stepped away, sidling up next to Blake, who was currently staring down at the floor, deep in thought. The Faunus looked as though she was about to say something when the warm familiar weight of Yang's arm around her shoulders caught her by surprise. Amber eyes glanced curiously up at her partner, finding the amethyst gaze she sought already trained back onto Weiss. "You know me," Yang cheerfully rambled on, "can't resist a good bit of fun!"

"Alright! Apologies accepted," Ruby cheered, pumping both fists in the air, "Let's go to class! Er... maybe let's clean up, and then go to class."

"Hm," the heiress crossed her arms, not quite satisfied. Then she noticed the time on the large clock over the reception area. "We have fifteen minutes?! That's hardly enough time to get back to the _dorm_, much less change and get to class!"

"Wait, why do we have to change?" Ruby pulled a face. Her clothes were a little singed and stained with gobs of sword polish, but she had been planning to wash her hands and face and call it good.

"Rrrrrg, fine," Weiss wasn't in much better shape, but she'd been spared most of the flames by virtue of being behind/underneath Ruby, and there really wasn't time to get back to the room. "Let's find a mirror at least. I need to fix my hair," she gave her partner's a dubious glance. When Ruby ran her hand over it self-consciously, it sprang right back up in a dozen unruly cowlicks. "... and your hair. Come on."

The heiress turned on her heel, storming to the restrooms. Ruby followed, grinning sheepishly and waving to Yang and Blake, "Uh, see you guys in class!"

"Good luck in there!" Yang waved back with a wink as her little sister disappeared after Weiss behind the swinging door.

The handful of students who had stopped to watch began to disperse as they realized the brief scuffle had ended. Blake followed their lead, Yang's arm slipping from her shoulders as she turned to head towards their next class. She allowed herself a small smile as her partner rushed to walk next to her. "You didn't have to cover for me," she said lightly, gently nudging the brawler's arm.

"Of _course_ I did," Yang gently nudged back, her own definition of gentle sending Blake stumbling sideways a step or two, "Pranking anonymously has its perks you know!"

Blake offered her partner a thankful smile. "Speaking of pranks," her smile turned sly as they rounded a corner, "you weren't _really _going to kill Weiss, were you?" The words came out closer to a statement than a question, but she found she was still curious as to the brawler's limits.

"Er - haha _no_, yeah, I knew she was faking," Yang waved a hand dismissively, looking everywhere but her partner as Blake's smile widened. "There's no way the Schnee heiress would risk being indecent in public... I uh, I just wanted to give her a good scare is all," she grinned unconvincingly.

"…That _was_ a pretty impressive shriek," Blake couldn't help but giggle. Their eyes met, and within seconds they broke down completely, leaning on each other as they laughed in hysterics. Blake was the first to recover, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "Still, it's too bad we didn't get to send those two on a nice romantic getaway."

"Yeah~"

"We'll have to go visit the place ourselves," she continued, looking thoughtful.

Yang's eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

"We can scout the area for pranking potential."

"...Marry me."

"_Make me,_" Blake taunted, perfectly mimicking Weiss's icy tone.

Neither could keep a straight face - dissolving into laughter once more, the covert partners in crime continued down the hall, already planning their next joint venture.


	5. Epilogue: Jaune's Locker

Meanwhile, a few stray bricks crumbled, settling into the pile of debris in the vacant niche that once housed Jaune's locker. Now only a pile of plaster and rock remained.

Sun lounged atop the row of lockers next to the empty space, basking in the sun that poured in through the hole high up in the wall. He tilted his head to look down at his blue-haired companion, who was in the process of hacking his scroll into one locker's control system. This of course after he'd used his energy glaive to shave off a sample of the material to analyze later_ and_ replicate for test escape-runs.

The easy-going Faunus sighed, "Y'know, no one's blaming you for not knowing how to get into a hyper security locker. Except maybe the ice queen, but she blames weird stuff on everybody."

"It's called _being proactive_," Neptune replied coolly, carefully studying the stream of numbers that flashed across the screen in his hands. "Honestly, from what I've seen of those girls, I'll be surprised if they _don't _end up getting into some serious trouble," he stole a glance at Sun and winked, "the kind they might need help breaking out of." Though, _honestly, _from everything he had seen of team RWBY so far, they probably wouldn't need help at all... ever.

The soft glow from the screen of Neptune's scroll illuminated his smile as he allowed himself to get lost in numbers once more, "You know, the algorithm they're using to convert traditional geographical coordinates into 6 digit codes is actually pretty fascinating..."

"Whatever," Sun rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow. His tail perked up as a voice sounded near the door.

Jaune Arc came jogging in, calling over his shoulder, "-be right back. Just dropping some stuff off. I'll catch up in a second," he noticed the two guys and eased back down to a walk, lifting one hand in greeting while he unbuckled his sword belt with the other. "Oh, hey, Neptune. Sun. You just... uh... hanging out?"

"Pretty much," Sun shrugged. He and Neptune watched the blonde swordsman notice and track the bits of plaster scattered underfoot to their source.

Jaune looked up at the hole in the wall. He looked down at the pile of rubble on the floor. He rubbed the back of his neck, "So... my locker's gone."

Neptune didn't bother looking up from his scroll. "Team RWBY."

"Ah. Gotcha," Jaune sighed.

That pretty much summed it all up.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you've enjoyed the ride. Leave a review!**

**\- Fiercesomest**


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